Road Trip! (Joplin, MO)

Early this morning (when I saw a "buy two, get one free on anything in the store" post from a comics/pop culture store) my youngest and I decided a road trip to Joplin, MO was in order. We intended to hit three locations and ended up visiting five. I think we 1) laughed the entire way there for a multitude of reasons, 2) will be remembering this trip for a long time, and 3) created several of our own "had to be there" jokes that I have no doubt we'll reference for a long time to come. (Pointing out giant hay bales and screaming "hey!" only to yell out "no!" when a song did but there was none in sight. Referring to small ponds full of cattle as "beef stew." Looping the block three times as Google Maps struggled to find our first destination. The smell of FOUR different skunks during our drive. Realizing as we were about fifteen minutes from home that at no time during the seven-hour adventure had either of us used a restroom, and said realization leading to us desperately needing to go!)

We were on our way out of Joplin when I mentioned to my youngest that I had enjoyed our time together and almost stated that everything seemed more modern than in our home city. That's when I remembered that the city was practically leveled in 2011 by a tornado and that almost everything we had seen was about a decade old.

----

As stated, we had three planned stops plus one for food. We ended up with five plus a stop at Sonic for food.

Our first stop was The Clubhouse, which promised a large selection of back issues AND a sale. I've been burned by such things before, but the pictures on their Facebook page looked promising.

Google Maps struggled to find it. Long story short, the reason why was because the address was for the front of the building while the parking lot and door for customers was on the back. We kept passing it which caused the GMaps to constantly reroute us around the block. Finally we found it. The door with the business sign was locked but there were people inside. The other door had no signage. So we went around to the front/back and tried those doors. Nothing. We finally returned to the only door we hadn't tried and viola!

I was overwhelmed immediately. There was a glass case on one side of us and wooden shelves on the other, both sporting older toys. (My childhood is "older." OUCH.) Ahead of us were three guys playing Magic the Gathering. On the other side of them was the three-sided counter, which was big enough to have three people and a whole lot of stuff behind it.

After passing the guys playing cards we saw the variety of options available to us: a sports card section to the left, a room with Star Wars and other items in front of us, a Funko Pop room, to the right of that...and then the comic and miscellaneous stuff room which was twice the size of the others. The comics were well sorted - mostly by first letter but titles were clumped together more often than not - and the prices were more than fair. I found six boxes with unsorted books, one of which was marked "$1 indies." Anything in those six boxes that was bagged had a green dot, while unbagged comics did not. I found two including a grail I had given up on a while ago because I couldn't find it anywhere, much less for a decent price. I confirmed with (what I assume to be) an owner that the green dots were $1 each - score!

My youngest quickly found three Transformers figures. I finished with the dollar boxes and moved on to the regular ones where I found two books for one person and one for another, but nothing for me.

After that, we went to one of the two Vintage Stock locations in Joplin MUCH that were much different than the locations we were familiar with. It was very laid back and pleasant. I rescued a Batmite Funko Pop from the "no one will take me home because my box is damaged and I can't be flipped on ebay" section for a great price. Now I just need a Mr. Mxyzptlk to go with it.

Our next stop at Books-a-Million was a complete waste of time.

Then we were on to Sonic where I got an unexpected deal on my youngest's lunch because of a promotion. I had a pretzel because Sonic's pretzels are fantastic.

Our next stop was the other Vintage Stock location which was much larger than any location I've been in before. It may be an old Best Buy location or something along those lines. Either way, their comic section was the same as every other location. We walked away empty-handed from there as well.

Google told us we were less than a mile from another store, so I tried to find it. After a bit we were able to confirm that what appeared to be an empty Wendy's (complete with sunroom) was the former location of KoolKomix. (Oddly, the business has eight reviews on Google from the last week.) I snagged the pic below from google, and I love how the shadow of the signpost looks like a guy scratching his head as that is exactly how we felt.

GMaps said we were just over five miles from one more shop, and since it was "on the way home" my youngest agreed. (I MAY have fibbed a little about that, but turned out it was an "alternative route" that put us a few minutes closer.)

----

Our final stop was Heroes and Wizards Comics in Webb City a suburb of Joplin. As we left Joplin proper I couldn't help but notice our surroundings were becoming significantly more residential. Nothing too scary, but not too promising, either.

As we entered into the final mile things started to look a little better. We passed a golf complex in the process of being built, a handful of farming-related businesses, and a variety of other signs of life. When we first reached our destination we didn't see the sign on the building, as it was smaller than the others and not exactly welcoming. The few vehicles in the lot (except one) were parked in front of the liquor store. We happened to circle the other as we confirmed we were in the right place. We both noticed a woman seated in the driver's seat. I also noticed "Ghetto Tacos" next door, which I found off-putting but have since learned from its Facebook page it is a more permanent location for a local food truck. The pictures of their food look fantastic!

We made our way to the door. I opened the door and let my youngest go in first. Suddenly there was an older gentleman - maybe 6'3" or 4" standing right behind me apologizing for not greeting us because he was taking a quick break. He had come from outside but I have NO idea from where or how he got to us so quickly! While I was caught off-guard I wasn't spooked, as I felt an overwhelming sense of genuine kindness from him. He made his way to a table in the back corner and sat quietly while we shopped.

The store was absolutely pristine! I've included a few pics from their FB page. I started sifting through the boxes and quickly picked up on the fact that books started at fifty-cents and most were only a dollar. A handful of $2 books were from the past year or so. I started to get my hopes up that I would find the individual issues (#16-22 and the 2021 Annual) that make up the Batman/Superman Archive of Worlds hardcover I plan to order soon. I was about halfway through the boxes and finding NOTHING I wanted.

Then a woman entered the store. She welcomed us and made her way to the counter where we proceeded to open bags of gaming dice and individually place them into small gumball machine capsules.

I continued sifting through the boxes, my frustration increasing with every unwanted book until...Adventures of Superman #1 for two bucks! But wait...Adventures of Superman started with #424 when the original Superman book was renamed to add the other two words. What was I looking at?!? Using my trusty pocket computer I learned that this was a "digital first" [spit!] series produced by DC in 2013-'14 that only lasted seventeen issues. They had nine more available for a dollar each. There is one issue in the series that will never be in my collection because of the character on the cover, the current price, and the writer, but otherwise I plan to get them all! (I might even stick an old bag and board in my collection with a note reminding me why I don't want it.)

We paid and made small talk with the woman, who was also very kind. Nothing about outside of the initial interaction with him struck me as odd, but the store was so nice and they were so kind it wouldn't surprise me at all if I went back tomorrow and the windows were boarded up with several weathered 'for rent' signs stapled to them, and the clerk at the liquor store laughed off my questioning with a knowing statement. "Oh, you met Robert and Linda. Every year around this time..."

I took a business card simply to watch it carefully and see if it starts to fade out like Marty McFly's family photo.

----

The stuff!

Averaging out at a buck a piece, this was my haul for the day. Ten (of 17) issues of the Adventures of Superman series I didn't know existed until today, two from the series I DID know existed but haven't been able to find in good shape, Superman: Secret Files at Origins #2, Superman Inc (which is technically for my oldest), and the aforementioned grail: the BUG one shot! I gave up on that one a year or so ago when it appeared it would always be priced higher than I was willing to pay. I haven't opened it yet, but at a buck (technically it was free because of the B2G1 sale) I'll be fine with anything shy of water or crayon damage! And, of course, Bat-Mite!